The instant application is based upon the French priority patent application No. 98 04213, filed Mar. 31, 1998, the disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference thereto in its entirety, and the priority of which is hereby claimed under 35 U.S.C. 119.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a label provided for being affixed to a spoked rim for a two-wheeled vehicle, such as a bicycle. The invention also relates to a rim and a spoked cycle wheel equipped with such a label.
2. Description of Background and Relevant Information
In a known way, a bicycle rim is produced from a segment of a curved section whose two ends are joined end-to-end. The ring thus formed is bored with holes, the number of which corresponds to the number of spokes provided to equip the wheel. Most often, these holes are alternately offset in the direction of the edges of the rim and, if necessary, they are equipped with eyelets which are crimped into the rim and which serve as supports for the spoke nipples. The number of spokes can vary according to the mechanical properties sought for the wheel, particularly the rigidity and the weight. As a general rule, the same rim profile provided for a bike can be bored according to two, three, or four different modes, the most common values being 24, 28, 32, or 36 holes per wheel rim.
During the assembly of the wheel, it is important to know, or in somes cases to verify, the number of borings in the rim in order to make the correct choice of components and produce the correct assembly.
It is of course possible to apply to the rim a label indicating the number of borings in the rim. However, this requires keeping various types of labels in stock in accordance with the numbers of borings, and the risk of an error exists at the moment the labels are affixed. The rims for which this is the case are incorrectly identified.
An object of the invention is to overcome the disadvantages noted above by proposing a single label that indicates the number of borings in the rim regardless of that number, and which thereby eliminates any risk of error in identifying the rim.
The label according to the invention is provided for identifying a batch of rims wherein the number of borings is predetermined and variable between a minimum number and a maximum number. It exists in the form of a plate, or layer of material, whose length is provided to cover at least the distance between two successive holes of a rim having the minimum number of borings. It includes a first mark provided to be centered on a first boring in the rim, and a straight edge located in the area of an adjacent boring in the rim and oriented in a longitudinal direction, with a scale of marks or indicators along the straight edge corresponding to values identifying the number of holes in the rim, each of the marks or indicators of the scale that identifies a number of borings being separated from the first hole by a distance equal to the distance between two adjacent borings of a rim bored by the number of borings in question.
In other words, the invention proposes to reproduce on a label a hyperbolic scale wherein the graduations correspond to the relation xe2x80x9cdxc3x97n=k,xe2x80x9d wherein xe2x80x9cdxe2x80x9d designates the distance from the original graduation, xe2x80x9cnxe2x80x9d designates the number of borings in the rim to which this graduation corresponds, and xe2x80x9ckxe2x80x9d is the circumference of the inner wall of the rim, this value being constant for rims of the same type. Preferably, only graduations that correspond to commonly used numbers of borings are indicated on the scale. However, this is not limiting.
The label is then affixed to the rim in such a way that the origin of the scale corresponds to a first boring. It is possible to directly read the number of borings on the scale, based on the position of an adjacent boring.